Class 13 &.<k£> 



PRESENTED BY 



-In mizmttxv 



of the 



Not mine, O Lord, to reason why the darkening cloud ; the 

sunlit sky, 
I gladly take what Thou dost give, 

Praying for guidance so to live, that Christ may gain thereby. 



EAST AURORA, NEW YORK 
The Advertiser 
1903 



AMUEL COLGATE bore the honored name 
of his father, who was well known 
and highly esteemed as an eminent Chris- 
tian merchant of New York city. Active 
and influential — as was his own honored father, 
William Colgate — among the leading laymen of 
the Baptist church, he was a director of Colgate 
University, for many years prominent in the man- 
agement of the American Tract Society, president 
of the Society for the Suppression of Vice, and a 
generous friend of many forms of Christian and 
philanthropic work. He was one of those Chris- 
tian merchant princes, who, from generation to 
generation, with a nobler than patrician ancestry, 
are bearing increasing responsibilities in the ex- 
tension of the kingdom of Christ, and are pillars 
in both church and state. 

The younger Samuel Colgate was of Puritan 
and Presbyterian ancestry through his mother, 
Elizabeth Morse, the daughter of Richard C. 
Morse, granddaughter of Jedediah Morse, the 
father of American geography, and niece of the 
inventor of the electric telegraph. Like her hus- 
band, she was a devoted Christian, full of sympathy, 
with all Christian endeavor in the church and com- 



5 



munity, the founder of the Orange Orphan Asylum, 
yet more active still in quieter, unnoticed forms of 
beneficence to those in need. But the chief energy 
of her life of ardent Christian faith and multiplied 
labors of love was given to her home in all its or- 
dering, but especially and most successfully in the 
training of her six sons, the fifth of whom, in or- 
der of age, was Samuel Colgate. He was born into 
this home, with its blessed atmosphere of parental 
fidelity and loving Christian service, on December 
12, 1868. 

In his earliest infancy there was a beginning 
of that unusual physical suffering in the form of 
serious illness which he experienced at times 
throughout his brief life. When but a few weeks 
old every effort to induce him to take the right 
kind of food failed, and to the doctors death 
seemed certain, when, from no change in treatment 
and from no apparent cause, the crisis passed so 
suddenly as to impress upon those in loving care of 
him — to use their own words — ' ' that it was in- 
tended we should feel that this life was spared for 
some very special purpose and service." 

In answer to the prayers and fidelity of his 
parents and teachers, he became in his boyhood a 
Christian believer, and when twelve years of age 
joined the North Orange Baptist church, of which 
his father was an active member, being the super- 
intendent of its Sunday-school for over forty years. 

Previous to this, when he was about nine 
years of age, he was present at a children's meet- 
ing in which the speaker presented vividly in a 
simple story the thought that the body was the 
temple for the indwelling of Christ, and that it lay 



6 



with us to open the door of our hearts and welcome 
the Lord Himself. Little Samuel Colgate was the 
child who sat immediately in front of the speaker, 
who writes: "There was that in his face which 
made me sure he was realizing a personal respon- 
sibility and responding to it. I have always felt it 
was a time when, consciously or unconsciously, a 
step was taken in his young religious life toward 
the open confession of Christ which he made not 
long afterward." 

He was a wholesome boy, full of fun and sport, 
and especially fond of practical jokes — an honestly 
inherited tendency. He was an inveterate tease, 
and an adept in the art. But his suffering vic- 
tims themselves testify that though their agony 
was real, and their tears abundant, yet the author 
of their woe never forfeited their affection and 
companionship. 

He was prepared for college at the Dearborn and 
Morgan School in Orange. As he was completing 
this preparation he was detained, in his eighteenth 
year, by his second very serious illness, in the form 
of a very severe attack of pneumonia. On his 
recovery he entered the academic department of 
Yale University in 1887, and was graduated in 
1 89 1 with a class of 185 members. 

In the first year of his college life he was 
elected by his class one of the three ' 1 deacons ' ' to 
whom is committed leadership in the care of the 
religious interests, meetings and activity of the 
class. He was also an officer of the Yale Young 
Men's Christian Association and active in the work 
of that organization from the beginning to the end 
of his college course. In the strenuous competition 



7 



for a position on the editorial staff of the Yale 
News, the daily paper published by the students, 
he was successful and served as one of the editors 
of that journal from his class. 

In the summer of his freshman year (1888) he 
attended the Student Conference at Northfield. 
While there, at a meeting of the Yale student del- 
egates, where the subject of a life service was under 
discussion, he was moved, with some others, to 
announce his determination to consecrate his life to 
the service of Christ. He wrote of this to his 
parents, modestly expressing the hope that they 
would not think him too young to reach such a 
decision. 

One of his class writes of him at this period: 
' ' He kept young all through his college course. 
He had the cheerful gayety of a boy. His happy 
disposition made, I think, the deepest impression on 
me. He was always enthusiastic, always cheerful. 
He was pure minded and pure of heart, being ab- 
solutely without malice toward any, and always 
ready and willing to do a kind act for another. 
He was not fond of study except as it might bear 
upon his chosen life work — the Christian ministry. 
For this work he seemed peculiarly fitted, for he 
could make his words and views in that line living 
forces. His earnestness and simple, happy, perfect 
faith carried conviction with it to others. He was 
a boy in all things but those which had to do with 
his work for Christ — in those he was a strong man. 1 ' 

Another classmate writes more fully: " In 
attempting to pen briefly my own impression of 
Sam Colgate's unusual character and tell some- 
thing of my deep affection for him, I find myself 



8 



surrounded by the conflicting feelings of deep per- 
sonal loss and keenest satisfaction, as I recall his 
lofty ideals, his Christian fortitude and unswerving 
principles and withal his unfailing kindness and 
broad, unselfish charities. 

' 1 My earliest impressions of him were formed 
when ' as freshmen first we came to Yale. ' I be- 
lieve that in freshman year the class deacons are 
chosen by intuition, and as intuition is often better 
than judgment, the choice of deacons usually proved 
to be the best possible. It was certainly so in his case. 
Enthusiastic about everything he undertook, he 
gave no uncertain sound. Never dogmatic, but 
tactfully persistent, he set an example by his own 
consistent righteousness that influenced the entire 
class of 1 89 1 for good, and at every class re-union 
since graduation, the large attendance and devout 
spirit at the class prayer meeting are magnificent 
tributes to his untiring devotion to the cause of 
Christ during the four years of college life. 

' ' It was toward the end of freshman year that 
our class came to know Mr. D. L,. Moody and every 
fall after that Sam Colgate with ten other football 
enthusiasts went to Northfield to play against the 
Mt. Hermon School team. It was partly the result 
of these visits to Mr. Moody's home at Northfield, 
and partly the result of Mr. Moody's own work in 
New Haven that aroused him to renewed effort in 
a definite campaign of personal work against all 
forms of unrighteousness, as they exist in any and 
every university, and this personal work for the 
cause of Christianity at Yale was largely conducted 
by him during sophomore, junior and senior years. 

1 ' He shared with the other class deacons the 



9 



work of supporting the Grand Street Mission, or- 
ganized to help the lowest of New Haven's work- 
ing men, something after the plan of the college 
settlement work of New York city. 

' ' But his character was not so unbalanced by 
the absence of faults that he could not command 
the love and hate of men. Aggressively loyal in 
his friendships, he was also excessively fond of a 
practical joke, whether on himself or someone else. 
A description of his college life would not be com- 
plete without some reference to his propensity to 
light campus fires. His enthusiasm made him 
reckless, even to the point of occasionally defying 
the faculty, and it seems to me that even to this day 
when the campus is suddenly aglow with the light 
of a secretly built bonfire — a challenge to the wary 
proctors to catch the offender — and a hundred win- 
dows fly up and a hundred voices shout from every 
direction, 4 Who lit that fire ? ' the answer from 
those same hundred windows must inevitably be 
' Colgate.' 

" He was an ardent lover of football, and was 
one of the first to apply instantaneous photography 
to the practical development of both football and 
rowing. Many of his football photographs were so 
unusual at that time that they were copyrighted 
and used by the leading publishers, and his work in 
illustrating faults of the Yale crew at practice 
marked an advance step in the making of an oars- 
man. 

"Because he was a gentleman by birth, in- 
stinct and early training, he became the truest ex- 
ponent of Yale democracy, a man among men, 
rugged, energetic, filled with the true Yale spirit, 



10 



that indefinable essence common to the purest 
aristocracy and the purest democracy. 

' ' The trend of his life seemed always in one 
direction, and so when it became known in senior 
year that he was thinking of studying for the min- 
istry, it seemed as if we had always known it, and 
we felt like congratulating the church that her 
cause was to be championed by so true a man. 

' ' It was my rare good fortune to know some- 
thing of his home life, and this, as I think of it, 
gives me the key to the singular purity and the 
lofty ideals of his early life. Since graduation, our 
paths have occasionally crossed, but each time no 
word from him was needed to fill the interim, for 
everyone who knew him knew beyond the shadow 
of a doubt that whatever of weal or woe life had 
held out for him, his purposes, his principles, and 
his faith had stood the test unchanged. 

' 1 There are some who will appreciate and ap- 
propriate more of heaven than others, and he is one 
of those whose mind and heart will be able in a 
transcendent degree to grasp all ' that eye hath not 
seen nor ear heard. ' ' ' 

After graduating from college he entered the 
theological department of Colgate University, com- 
pleting his course of professional study in 1894. A 
member of his class, Rev. G. G. Johnson, now 
pastor of the Prospect Avenue Baptist Church in 
Buffalo, writes: 

" I shall not soon forget the first time I met him. 
It was in the seminary chapel at Hamilton at the 
opening of the first term of our course in theology. 
To me then all these scenes and many of the faces 
were familiar as I had taken my college course in 



1 1 



that university. But to him everything was strange 
and new, and he stood there alone, and apparently 
lonely, at the close of the chapel exercises, quiet, 
diffident and winsome. By an irresistible impulse 
I was drawn to him. I went up and spoke to him 
and asked him if he would like to come to our 
boarding place, and the readiness with which he 
responded to my approach quite won my heart. 
He has had it ever since ! For three years we 
walked and talked together in that ideally seques- 
tered school of the prophets, and each year brought 
me nearer to him, and made me feel more and more 
his sweet serenity of spirit, his unpretentious sim- 
plicity of heart and life, and his noble strength of 
character. He was always abounding with good 
spirits and yet always had about him as a garment 
an impenetrable and well nigh imperturbable dig- 
nity. His devotion to what he believed to be his 
life calling was absolute. 

' ' Before me as I write is the picture of ' Eaton 
Hall' in which were our living and recitation rooms. 
And there on the third floor, southeast corner, is 
'Sam's room,' as we loved to call it. How often 
have we seen him there, living simply and studying 
laboriously, preparing for his life work. 

1 ' Equally familiar was his form as coach upon 
the football field, successfully training the college 
team for victory, or going down the street with a 
group of fellows on the best of terms with all. 

1 ' In the social life of the town he was invar- 
iably in demand, for he was always genial and cour- 
teous, and he won the respect and esteem of all who 
had the privilege of knowing him in town or uni- 
versity. But deeper than esteem was the love 



12 



which those had for him who knew him best. Un- 
til this day the janitor whom we all knew and 
liked so well, speaks of what a ' fine man Mr. Col- 
gate was,' and the sentiment is lovingly echoed by 
one who was permitted to see the natural reserve 
withdrawn and to share his confidence and intimacy. 
To me he still lives. The fragrance of his friend- 
ship is with me yet, and will remain as one of the 
richest, most enduring blessings of my life." 

Another who knew him intimately during his 
whole life, alluding to this " reserve " and " dig- 
nity," writes : 

" He had a winsome, almost boyish frankness 
to a certain point, but great reserve in regard to his 
deeper feelings. Open to many and seeming to 
easily admit them to his confidence, really but few 
gained the inner recess where the most sacred 
things were kept. The rare times when it seemed 
as if I had that privilege are delightful memories 
to me — glimpses into a sincerely honest and most 
affectionate heart." 

One of his teachers in the Seminary writes : 

' ' Samuel Colgate and I came to Hamilton the 
same year ; he from college and I from the pastor- 
ate. His father was president of the Educational 
Society (which at that time controlled the Semi- 
nary) and its most liberal patron. It would have 
been easy for a young man less genuine or less 
fortunate in his home training to have forgotten 
himself, by remembering this. Young Colgate 
never did. He came from one of the great univer- 
sities and mingled with men from small colleges or 
from none; but he never wore a large Y. Presumably 
he had a good deal of money, but one never 



13 



thought of it. His dress was simple, his room not 
strikingly different from other rooms. In all his 
relations he was simple, genuine, hearty — a gentle- 
man. That is my first thought of him. On the 
athletic field, in a group of students, in the class- 
room, in the parlor, everywhere, the gentleman ; 
and as fine an example as I have ever met among 
young men. 

' ' I suspect you may be surprised at my saying 
this at some length — -I am myself — it is only what 
anyone who knew him would expect of Sam Col- 
gate — it goes without saying. But what a tribute 
is that instinctive feeling in all who knew him — 
what a tribute that is to him ! 

"He was a faithful student, not a brilliant 
one. He did not do his work easily, I suspect, but 
he did it well. 

' ' He touched our student life here on every 
side — socially he was a favorite. He was a fine 
athlete, and in that direction was both an inspira- 
tion and a civilizer. He delighted in football, but 
wanted it clean ; he enjoyed baseball ; he was a 
familiar figure on the tennis court. He loved 
sports as diversions, but he did not neglect work 
for them. But on the religious side I think his in- 
fluence was felt most strongly. That to him was 
first anyway, and no one who came to know him 
thought of it any other way. This fact, together 
with a certain gift of approach, made him helpful 
both to those who were Christians and those who 
were not." 

He was married June 21, 1894, to Miss Edith 
Hall, the daughter of Mr. Edward J. Hall of Buffalo, 
and the following years (July, 1894 — July, 1896) 

14 



were spent by them in Germany, where he at- 
tended lectures in the University of Berlin. Here 
a daughter, Mabel Colgate, was born to them. 
Owing to the serious illness of Mrs. Colgate, they 
did not return home until the summer of 1896. 

He selected and eagerly sought, for his first field 
of service, the poor and neglected of the densely 
populated parts of the great city. In gratification 
of this desire, he accepted, in the summer of 1896, a 
call to become the assistant minister of the Rev. Dr. 
W. H. P. Faunce, then pastor of the Fifth Avenue 
Baptist Church, and to take pastoral charge of one 
of its mission branches, Emmanuel Church, located 
on Kldridge Street, on the east side of the city. 
Here he labored in his chosen field (November, 
1896-June, 1897) with great industry during the 
autumn, winter and spring until his work, or over- 
work, was arrested by a very severe attack of typhoid 
fever, the third of those serious illnesses which he 
survived before he was smitten for the fourth and 
last time with what proved to be a fatal disease. 
The following testimony concerning his brief min- 
istry in his first and most difficult parish is given 
by Dr. Faunce : 

' ' Samuel Colgate came into my life for a brief 
period only and vanished, but he left behind him a 
distinct impression and a happy memory. He came 
as my assistant minister, having charge for a year 
of our mission church — Emmanuel Church — in lower 
New York. The first time I met him I was struck 
with his high-bred Christian courtesy. In every 
accent, in every gesture, there was the mark of a 
chivalric soul, gentle and strong. It seemed 
strange that one to whom so many commercial and 



15 



social opportunities were open should covet above 
all things the chance to work in the most nearly- 
hopeless quarter of New York. But that he did 
covet it was evident. Because he was at heart a 
gentleman, he could not think meanly of his fellows. 
He loved the humblest, respected the poorest, and, 
with no thought of condescension, sprang into his 
work, and the people appreciated him and loved him. 
They responded to his manly appeals, his upright- 
ness and directness, his gentleness and winsome- 
ness. Had not untimely illness cut short his pas- 
torate, he might have accomplished much in dark- 
est New York. 

" As I knew him better, we began to discuss 
intellectual problems, and then I saw his utter and 
fearless sincerity. He knew the meaning of Bush- 
nell's sentence, ' Follow your convictions though 
they take you over Niagara. ' He had no Niagara 
to leap, but he did have to differ from those whom he 
truly loved, and the love was only increased by the 
difference. He could not accept forms or formulas 
simply because they were venerable — to him they 
must seem rational, vital, and true, if they were to 
win assent and consent. In all his searching of his 
own soul, in all his seeking for the mind of Christ, 
he carried a candid and teachable spirit, and fol- 
lowed ever his highest light. 

" Swiftly he passed from us, and we could fol- 
low him only with earnest wish and prayer. But he 
left, like a flashing star, a train of light behind him, 
and the world is brighter, because he lived in it." 

Recovery from his severe illness was necessarily 
slow. He spent nearly a year on the Pacific coast, 
returning to New York in the autumn of 1898. 



16 



The following winter was passed in that city, and 
during January, 1899, after having for some years 
given most careful and prayerful consideration to 
the subject, he transferred his membership from 
the Baptist to the Presbyterian Church, and was 
admitted to ministerial standing in the New York 
Presbytery. 

Rev. Dr. George Alexander, pastor of the 
University Place Presbyterian Church, New York, 
writes : 

' 4 He was unknown to me until he came to 
consult me with regard to the change in ecclesias- 
tical status which he was contemplating. We had 
several interviews in which he won my confidence 
and affection by his manifest sincerity and his 
earnest desire to discover what was for him the 
path of duty and of greatest usefulness. There was 
about his personality a breadth and breeziness which 
made it a delight to meet with him. At the same 
time his high Christian principle and sobriety of 
judgment commanded my deepest respect. I was 
especially impressed with the entire absence of that 
critical spirit toward the church he was leaving, 
which is so often exhibited by men who change 
their ecclesiastical relations. He always referred 
in the most respectful and appreciative way to the 
church of his fathers and was simply concerned to 
find for himself a place where he could render the 
Master the fullest service." 

His health and vigor being apparently restored, 
he accepted a call to the First Presbyterian Church 
of East Aurora, N. Y., in June, 1899, and began his 
pastorate in that place the following September. 

Here for two and a half years he endeared him- 



17 



self to the Church and community by his labors as 
a Christian pastor and citizen. It does not belong 
to this sketch to give the particulars of this min- 
istry as it grew steadily in helpful and gracious in- 
fluence upon an ever increasing number within and 
beyond the bounds of his Church. A fellow clergy- 
man, who was in frequent touch with his friend and 
the people to whom he ministered, writes: 

" He had a most business-like way of con- 
ducting church affairs. He reminded me often of 
Mr. Moody. The method of his thought in ser- 
mons, the manner of addressing his audience, the 
substance of his appeal to men, the arrangements 
for his prayer meetings, and his whole plan in or- 
ganizing work and workers was that of a business 
man rather than that of the ordinary pastor. He 
was orderly, systematic, with never failing common 
sense. His way of working attracted men — hard- 
headed, practical men of business. His frank and 
open plain-spoken, matter-of-fact address made him 
successful with young and old. He did not copy 
any ' new church methods ' in vogue elsewhere, 
but rather originated his own plans to meet the con- 
ditions about him. He handled in a masterly way 
all that concerned his work so as to get the best re- 
turn on the investment of effort which he and his 
people put forth. He worked for results — never 
seemingly for mere effect. In all this he appeared 
to be a man these times especially call for in pulpit 
and all religious work — a manly man among men. 

' ' The perpetual sunniness and cheerfulness of 
his faith attracted men to Christianity. Everyone 
could see that Christianity made him happy. His 
smile — the joyful expression, the sparkling eye — 



18 



was always in evidence, and even when he spoke 
most solemnly his hearers were conscious that the 
more attractive side of the truth he was presenting 
was being held in check only for a time and would 
soon shine forth. He seemed to be absolutely 
happy in the truth as he received it. 

" The subject he chose at one time for a week 
of special meetings was: ' The opportunities and 
privileges of the higher Christian life.' I recall 
that one of the topics was, 1 1 shall be satisfied 
when I awake in His likeness.' Another was upon, 
' Taking up the cross,' and he insisted that this was 
not taking up a burden. The crosses are not the 
burdens of life. Cross in Scripture means death. 
It meant the death of Christ, whenever He spoke 
of His cross. So cross means death to sin — death 
to selfishness. Those who heard him, often spoke 
of the winsomeness of his face and realized that 
they had a vision of the attractiveness of an open, 
avowed Christian life. All this made him magnetic. 

' ' A chief solicitude with him was to reach 
the ' unchurched ' or those who almost never en- 
tered a church. His missions in the country and 
his visits by night and by day to those he interest- 
ed himself in, had this main objective. He tried to 
make his week-day prayer meetings attractive to 
those unaccustomed to church going. He ' worked 
them up ' with great care. 

' ' He said to me once that he felt that the Holy 
Spirit often directed him to do a certain thing, and 
he always tried to do it at once. The consciousness 
of duty and the pressure on him to perform it were 
thus vividly associated in his experience with the 
direct work of the Holy Spirit in his heart and life." 



19 



But the pace of this blessed, successful ministry 
was beyond the young pastor's physical strength, 
and before the third year was half spent his health 
began to give way. The symptoms of a fourth 
severe illness — destined to be fatal — began to appear 
in the winter of 1902. 

An ocean voyage to a more congenial climate 
was planned, but he tarried in New York under 
the doctor's care for that beginning of recovery 
which would justify the journey, but which was 
never to be realized. Slowly, month by month, 
until midsummer, the physical man — in spite of 
most vigilant care and attention — became weaker 
and weaker. But the man of faith and hope and 
love grew daily stronger in fellowship with his 
Saviour and Lord. 

When the sad hour of parting for a time with 
those nearest and dearest to him came and the day of 
his death (July 16, 1902) was at hand, the masterful 
spirit within seemed to rise superior to all infirmities 
of the enfeebled body, and the undying cheerfulness 
and buoyancy of his faith were manifest in his loving 
endeavor to comfort those about him. For the first 
few moments of the last interview he was bewildered, 
and with irrepressible humor said to his brothers: 
' 1 Boys, this is the first time I have been in this 
case, and I hardly know what is expected of me." 
Then in the presence of their great distress he 
sought to impart to them, with smiling counte- 
nance, something of his own immortal confidence 
and perfect peace. One of his brothers was vividly 
reminded of the lines familiar to them all: 

" On parent knees a new born child, 

Weeping thou satst while all around thee smiled ; 

So live, that sinking to thy last long sleep, 

Thou then mayst smile while all around thee weep." 



20 



Words which seemed to have happiest fulfillment 
in the serene peace and joy in which this disciple of 
the Comforter was continuing to the very end of 
mortal life his ministry of loving cheer and sympathy. 

One who remembers him from his infancy 
writes : " Since his death he has been very vividly 
in my thoughts, and the thirty-four years of his 
brief life have passed swiftly in review before me. 
With an environment of unusual happiness in his 
home, there was yet in his life much of physical 
suffering and of anxiety for those he loved most. 
But every trial he passed through, every conflict 
and decision, mental and spiritual, added a fresh 
beauty to his character, until his joyous departure 
to be forever with his I^ord. His life, spared so 
often after serious illness, was freely surrendered 
at every step and so the purpose of God unimpeded 
was fulfilled in it." 

"Oh, gracious Lord, thou knowest best; 

Thou knowest them that trust in Thee. 
Blessed the soul, yea, doubly blest, 

When Thou dost try its constancy. 

" Upon the soft and crumbling stone, 
The sculptor spends a passing hour ; 

He strikes immortal blows alone, 

Where chiseled marble feels his power. 

" Thou knowest, Lord, a stone to choose, 

Worthy the labor of thy hand ; 
Thou fearest not the tool to use 

That gives it shape at thy command. 

" Move on in thy mysterious way, 

We'll stand aside thy work to see, 
Faithful the work and blessed they 

Who cannot trace but trust in thee." 



21 



W&txtk in gast Jtwrorn 



ism 



S A CLUSTER of lilies borne through a 
room leaves behind an atmosphere sur- 
charged with fragrance, so a gracious 
personality passing through a community 
contributes a wealth of fragrant words and deeds. 
Such a personality was the Rev. Samuel Colgate, 
and such is the relationship which he sustains to 
Bast Aurora. 

In September, 1899, he became pastor of the 
First Presbyterian Church. He found here a well 
organized, fairly equipped church of about two 
hundred members. During the spring preceding 
his coming, there had been a somewhat notable 
spiritual awakening in the town and thirty-five had 
been added to the membership of the church. 
The field had apparently been well wrought over. 
While there were young converts to train and older 
ones to nurture, it was not to be expected that the 
spiritual tone would continue so high as it was at 
the close of the period of spiritual quickening, or 
that accessions to the church would be very con- 
siderable for some time again. 

The probable reaction, however, did not fol- 
low. The Prayer Meetings continued beautiful in 
spirit and there was a constantly increasing attend- 



22 



ance. There was a reaching out, too, after the 
unsaved. The pastor's zeal for the salvation of 
souls was communicated to the church. As a re- 
sult of this splendid spiritual condition — the best 
evidence of a successful pastorate — in the little 
more than two years Mr. Colgate was permitted to 
serve here, nearly one hundred members were added 
to the church. 

This somewhat remarkable spiritual state was 
attended by a proper development in every direc 
tion. Benevolence was fostered and increased ; the 
Sunday-school attendance was excellent and meth- 
ods of work were improved ; there was built up a 
remarkably strong Christian Endeavor Society ; a 
Men's Club was organized and brought to efficiency ; 
the congregations were much larger than they had 
ever been in the history of the church. 

Speaking from the point of view of a limited 
human vision, these magnificent accomplishments 
seem to be the result of Mr. Colgate's characteris- 
tics and his mode of expending effort. His conse- 
cration to the service of God and humanity was 
complete. There was, however, no flourish about 
what he had given up to enter the Christian min- 
istry. He appeared always to have such a joy in 
his service, that it seems doubtful whether he were 
ever conscious that he had made any social or com" 
mercial sacrifice in doing the work to which he was 
called. This consecration spoke more eloquently 
than words of the worth of the gospel he proclaimed, 
and buttressed every declaration of Christian truth. 
It affected wholesomely many who would never 
listen to his message, and the unconscious in- 
fluence of this characteristic can never be measured. 



23 



His preaching was eloquent, because tremendously 
earnest. What he sought was not the expression of 
his views, but the impression of God's truth upon 
the minds and hearts of his auditors ; and he suc- 
ceeded in his purpose. 

In his pastoral ministrations he brought abun- 
dant blessings. He was kindly considerate of the 
erring and tempted ; he sympathized with those 
who were being smitten by contrary winds ; he lent 
a hand to the overburdened. He knew how to do 
personal work with the unsaved, and he did it. He 
was able also to understand those who were in the 
midst of life's joys. He won their confidence and 
was thus enabled to direct them into the highest 
life. There was no class of people which he did 
not affect helpfully. 

He was always interested in the moral and re- 
ligious well being of the town. He rejoiced in the 
growth of every true church of Christ. He loved 
to see harmony among God's people and he did all 
he could to promote it. Every undertaking that 
promised to be beneficial received his hearty ap- 
proval. He did not, however, enter into any plan 
proposed without careful consideration, and his cau- 
tion was frequently as worthful as his enthusiasm. 
He kept steadily before him the true end of the 
gospel ministry and never allowed minor ethical 
issues to take precedence. 

There was nothing he could reasonably do for 
a brother pastor that he was not willing to do. The 
writer of this sketch was obliged to be out of town 
most of the week for several months during the first 
year of Mr. Colgate's ministry here, and he recalls 
with profound appreciation frequent offers to help 



24 



in doing the pastoral work, and in public ministra- 
tion. Even after his health began to give way, he 
was anxious to help in bearing the message to the 
surrounding communities, and offered his aid to 
those who were undertaking this work. His nota- 
bly kindly interest in a church from which he had 
felt constrained to withdraw his allegiance, was a 
splendid indication of the nobility of his Christian 
character. 

His work here has been put to the severest test, 
and the way it stands speaks eloquently of its true 
success. It is more than a year now since failing 
health made it necessary for him to go away, hoping 
to regain his strength. A little while before he 
left, his church building, a comparatively new 
structure, burned. His people arranged, at his 
suggestion, to accept the invitation of the Baptist 
Church to worship with them. This arrangement 
continued for more than a year with the most cor- 
dial relations between the two churches while 
the new Presbyterian Church was being built. The 
sweet, helpful spirit of the Presbyterian people dur- 
ing this period of joint service, abundantly attests 
the gracious spirit of their pastor to whose leader- 
ship they had so heartily yielded. 

The way the Prayer Meetings, Christian En- 
deavor Society and Sunday-school were kept up 
during this time is perhaps the surest indication of 
the thoroughness of organization and the spirit of 
service which Mr. Colgate's pastorate had helped 
so largely to engender. The effect of his inspiring 
ministry was also apparent in the way his people 
took hold of the work of building a new church, 
and the beautiful house of worship which graces 



25 



the spot on which the old church stood is in no 
small measure a memorial to the consecrated life 
and service of Mr. Colgate. 

He was so thoroughly identified with all of the 
best interests of the town that his illness and death 
brought grief to all. His apparent life purpose is 
well expresed in this familiar quotation : "I expect 
to pass through this world but once, any good 
thing, therefore, that I can do, or any kindness I 
can show to any fellow human being, let me do it 
now. I^et me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall 
not pass this way again." 



26 



Tribute Heu. grhmu H. gtrkmsmt, 3. g. 



"The door of thy great life stood wide, and o'er 
The threshold leaned thy eager soul, aglow 
With that warm hope the apostles used to know, 
With that strong faith the prophets preached of yore. 
O, glorious soul ! How many hps shall bless 
That faithfulness, that wealth of hopefulness 
That like God's Sun persisted in its cheer ! 
Forged at such heat thy swift word struck the ear 
To pierce men's souls — which, finding day still shine, 
Rose and unbarred their lives to life divine." 



HESE WORDS, written by Hannah Parker 
Kimball and applied to the work and char- 
acter of the great rector of Trinity Parish, 
Boston, are equally applicable to the work 
and character of this other minister to souls, of 
whom to-night we are thinking. He unbarred many 
a soul to ' ' life divine. ' ' There is no greater mis- 
sion ! To be called to it is to be called to an 
awful responsibility ; for if character or teaching 
fail, if either or both in the missioner cause the 
bolts of sin or prejudice to truth, which fasten 
out the divine life from the human life, to rust in 
their grooves, the present and the future must 
unite in condemnation. 

A call to the ministry is a call to service of the 
highest order and of the most far-reaching conse- 



27 



quences. There must be in the soul of him who 
turns to it something of the inspiration of the "Woe 
is unto me, if I preach not," else he had better 
not preach. 

No one has more clearly proclaimed this than 
Thomas Carlyle. In his lecture on ' ' Heroes ' ' he 
has said : ' ' The priest is the uniter of the people 
with the unseen Holy. * * * He guides them heav- 
enward and by wise guidance thro' this earth and 
its work. The ideal of him is, that he, too, be what 
we call a voice from the unseen heaven, interpret- 
ing, even as the prophet did, and in a more famil- 
iar manner unfolding the same to men. The un- 
seen heaven — the open secret of the universe — which 
so few have an eye for ! He is the prophet shorn 
of his more awful splendor, burning with mild, 
equable radiance, as the enlightener of daily life. 
This, I say, is the ideal of a priest. So in old 
times ; so in these, and in all times. One knows 
very well that in reducing ideals to practice, great 
latitude of tolerance is needful; very great. But 
a priest who is not this at all, who does not any 
longer aim or try to be this, is a character of 
whom we had rather not speak in this place." 

We are speaking within the most conservative 
limits when we say that Samuel Colgate strove to 
incorporate the highest ideal of the ministry. It is 
for this reason we are justified in speaking of him 
in this sacred place. 

When a man shows in his being and acts in his 
life, that he loves Jesus Christ with a great passion ; 
that the divine representation of manhood holds his 
vision, and that his supreme desire is to make that 
vision radiant upon every life, then we say the 



28 



sanctuary is the place where the record of the life 
should be reviewed. We are living in such a 
material age, the charm of life is so sensuous, the 
fascination of the daily plain of work so holds our 
vision to the horizontal, that we need turn our 
thought upon every life that by the force of its own 
uprising tendency can divert our vision Godward. 

Nothing will accomplish this that is impersonal. 
Statements of truth will never wean us from matter, 
but Truth walking and breathing near us, Truth 
working out in another a better type of living, 
ever has been and ever will be the only way of 
making us better men. 

Under every statement of the ideal in ministry 
and man thus far made, has been the thought of our 
brother. He was not ideal. He would regard as 
profanation any such eulogy — but there is not a man 
of us here to-night who knew him but would say he 
was making toward the ideal faster than most men. 
It was the quick pace of his character toward that 
which is highest and best in life which charmed us, 
and better, drew so many upward. 

It was the singleness of his vision of duty which 
helped us to understand the truth which Christ teach- 
es, that, "if, therefore, the eye be single, the whole 
body shall be full of light." He was a man with a 
mission; his mission mastered him. A man mastered 
by a mission is always a masterful man, because body, 
mind, soul, each in its way, always something force- 
ful, cannot be united on a purpose, driving muscle, 
brain and will into the narrow confines of action, 
without opening a path to accomplishment. A 
wedge with a sledge back of it is a cleaver of diffi- 
culty. When now that mission is an unselfish one, 



29 



when the personality is devoted to an object that is 
beneficent, the response is far and wide. The Crimea 
is past , but the influence of Florence Nightingale is 
not past. Make that mission an absorbing passion for 
humanity, a yearning over men that men may be 
better — fire that passion on the altar of love for 
Jesus Christ, and fan it daily with the breath of the 
Spirit of Life, and the response can be measured 
only by Him who knows the secrets of hearts. 
We are speaking within the limits of the ob- 
servation of everyone in this community when we 
declare this to have been our brother's peculiar 
power. 

Every man is a power for Jesus Christ to the 
extent that Jesus Christ is a power with him. De- 
votion to his Lord was Samuel Colgate's life. 
It was this which kept him thoroughly manly 
in his faith. He followed Him with a self-forgetful - 
ness which none could question. The ministry was 
not to him a means of livelihood, yet it was in the 
highest sense a living, that is, a spending of power, 
a devotion of the whole man to Him whom he served. 

Principal Fairbairn in 1 ' Studies in the Life of 
Christ ' ' has said of John the Baptist : ' ' He never 
speaks of his own claims, only delivers his destined 
message. He is but a ' Voice,' the word it utters 
alone deserves thought and demands faith. When 
the people anxiously curious, prepared to believe 
almost anything as to the new preacher, inquire, 
' who is he ? the Messiah ? Klias ? the prophet like 
Moses ? ' he has but one answer, ' I am not. What 
I am matters nothing ; what I say is matter enough. ' 
But this silence as to himself is eloquent as to his 
greatness. The man who is, as it were, annihilated 



30 



by his mission, is most magnified by it ; he becomes 
an organ of Deity, a voice of God, altogether silent 
as to his own claims, concerned only with God's. 
He who is so divinely possessed is insensible 
to the strength of the resistant forces, does his work 
by a kind of inspired necessity, and once it is done 
is content to die or be forgotten, to decrease that a 
greater may increase." 

But you cannot forget the man who forgets 
himself. The man who will not spare himself to 
bring you to God somehow grips you hard and holds 
you. You thank God for him and take courage. 

We are not attempting to analyze Mr. Colgate's 
influence. This would seem like breaking into 
notes a song which lingers as a sweet cadence in 
your memory. There are some things you cannot 
permit yourself to analyze. It seems profanation 
to attempt this. The whole is the sum of its parts. 
Of the sum, not of the parts, we to-night are think- 
ing. Of the fragrance which expresses the exhala- 
tion of grouped petals, of a strong, vibrant, melodi- 
ous chord, not of single tones. 

He lived the life of the minister of the gospel. 
He prepared and delivered sermons. He visited the 
fatherless and the widows in their affliction. He 
kept himself unspotted from the world. He 
mingled in the life of his village, and in that 
of the neighboring city. He was loved here, 
and admired. His influence was widening rapidly. 
It quickened the spiritual life of the entire Presby- 
tery. You are aware of the evangelic work carried 
on last winter in the Presbyterian churches of this 
vicinity, but you may not know that the circular 
letters which were issued to the evangelic commit - 



3i 



tee of the Presbytery and read from the pulpits 
were written by Mr. Colgate. They were charged 
with his own devotion to the great purpose of the 
church — soul winning. Their manly appeal to 
more earnest effort for the salvation of men stirred 
alike our ministry and our laity to more earnest 
service in the kingdom of God, and there was not 
a man in our ministerial circles who did not feel 
the force of his spiritual enthusiasm. 

His personality was singularly attractive. His 
mental gifts were peculiarly tributary to the great 
purpose of gaining the gospel a hearing. His 
wordly possessions were a sacred trust. All this 
is fact, fact we rejoice in and are thankful for. 

But, true as it is, does it all account for the 
sorrow which to-night rests on our hearts ? Does 
it explain the peculiar hold he had upon men? 
Does it account for the wider vision of manhood, 
truth, God, which ever came to him or her who 
followed his index finger ? 

There was something back of all this which 
made Samuel Colgate's ministry notable. It was 
his living interpretation of religion. It is alone 
because of this we are justified in speaking at 
such length of him. His spirit rebukes personal 
eulogy, even here and now, that would magnify 
his personality. He did not want it in life, we 
desecrate not his memory by giving it him in 
death. But even he would rejoice in knowing 
that by his life he made men see life ; that by 
his faith he made faith possible to others, that 
by his own buoyant, happy and rational love for 
the Master, he made that Master come very close 
to men and women and children, in counting room, 



32 



and school room, in shop and home. To fail to 
show men what the Christian minister ought to be 
and may be when thus personified would be to 
neglect an opportunity to turn thought to a man 
of God. 

"To furnish truth/' said Phillips Brooks, 
' ' to the believing heart, and to furnish believing 
hearts to truth, certainly there is no nobler office 
for a human heart than that. ' ' 

At Sea Gate he waited in patience and in pain 
for the gate of pearl to open, and when it had 
swung wide he whispered, " I am thinking of my 
people," and passed within. 

In his Yale lectures on Preaching, Phillips 
Brooks said : ' ' When the relation between 
preacher and congregation is worthily realized, 
who can say that it may not stretch beyond the 
line of death, and they who have been minister 
and people to each other here be something 
holy and peculiar to each other in the city of God 
forever. ' ' 

And as to-night our eyes follow this man of 
God to the mansion fair, we say to him in the 
words of Sir Edwin Arnold : 

" No moaning of the bar, set forth strong ship, 

Into that gloom which has God's face for a far light, 
Not a dirge, but a proud farewell from each fond lip, 
And praise, abounding praise, of fame's faint starlight. 

" No moaning of the bar, but musical drifting 
Of time's waves turning to the eternal sea ; 
Death's soft wind all thy gallant canvas lifting, 
And Christ thy Pilot to the peace to be." 



33 



Tribute iig Heu. Ofenrgs g. Untgbts. 



" For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime, 
Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer." 

HUS sang Milton in pastoral mode at the 
untimely taking off of a youthful friend. 
It is not extravagant to apply these words 
to Samuel Colgate. There is something 
in a noble character that is absolutely unique — that 
has no peer. 

Five months ago he left us with sails set for 
Italian skies. Rest and change seemed to promise 
speedy restoration to health and vigor. But 
disease crept on, the ocean voyage was abandoned, 
the apparently stalwart form was forced to yield, 
and for long months he lay with gracious patience, 
hoping that strength might soon return that he 
might serve again in public way the L,ord he 
loved. 

In a message he sent a few days before the 
final summons came, he said: "As I lie in my 
room I can look out over New York harbor and 
see the ships sail out for almost every port of the 
world." A few mornings ago, while his brothers 
stood round him and repeated with him, " The 
Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want," the mys- 
terious messenger summoned, and out of the 
harbor sailed a bark bound for fairer than Italian 
skies, for that ' ' undiscovered country from whose 
bourne no traveler returns," for that land of 




34 



exceeding brightness, where "the Lamb is the 
light thereof," and we are left, feeling as did 
Tennyson when he wrote of Arthur Hallam : 

1 1 1 sometimes hold it half a sin 

To put in words the grief I feel ; 
For words, like nature, half reveal, 
And half conceal the soul within." 

As we strive to speak our appreciation of the 
one we have loved and lost awhile, there stands 
before us a complete personality that does not 
yield readily to analysis. Someone has said that 
" the secret of a great life lies in yielding one's 
self to great impulses. ' ' Mr. Colgate had certainly 
yielded himself to great impulses and those who 
knew him best understood how great was the life 
that he lived. Although he was cut down in early 
manhood, what he was in character was great and 
what he was in accomplishment only God can fully 
know, for, "We live in deeds, not years; in 
thoughts, not breaths ; in feelings, not in figures 
on a dial. * * * He most lives, who thinks 
most, feels the noblest, acts the best." 

IvOve for God and man was the mastering 
impulse that made his life masterful. While there 
was much in his environment that would tend to 
fasten his thoughts and affection upon things upon 
earth, it was notable how his affections were set on 
things above. 

His faith in God made him optimistic and lent 
assurance that right would ultimately prevail. He 
was always joyous and able to see the shining 
side of every sombre cloud. As he was in life, so 
was he at the moment of his death. Stephenson's 



35 



words seem peculiarly appropriate : ' ' Glad did I 
live and gladly I die, and I lay me down with 
a will." 

He had rare intellectual endowments which 
were enhanced by the best educational opportuni- 
ties. He had unusual tact and common sense. He 
was single in purpose and definite in aim. His 
work was of a practical sort ; his business instinct 
demanded that he should see results of his doing. 
He organized wisely. He had a winsome per- 
sonality. He was thoughtful and considerate of 
others. He was appreciative of slightest favors ; 
he was unselfish and willing to spend himself for 
the help of any assuredly worthy enterprise. He 
was skillful in finding out those who were in need 
of ministration and tactful in doing. No one will 
ever know the burdens he has helped to lift or the 
homes he has brightened, or the lives he has 
quickened and sweetened. 

With his public ministry among us all are 
familiar. It was so remarkably effective, because 
it was the expression of what he was. 

In the best sense he was a great preacher. 
He was in dead earnest. He preached what he 
profoundly believed and lived. He emphasized 
the eternal verities, with sweet and beautiful 
Christian charity. He got the message heard 
and appropriated and lived. He followed "after 
righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, 
meekness. ' ' He was ' ' a good minister of Jesus 
Christ." He fought the good and triumphant 
fight. He has gone for his crown, and through 
our tears God's promises shine forth like a rainbow. 



36 



Ssssixro nf tte First Trjeshgteriatt (torch: 

East Aurora, N. Y.,July 16, 1902. 

H received this morning the news of the 
death of our beloved pastor, Samuel 
Colgate, and our souls are sorrowful. 
During his short pastorate here he 
has, by the power of the Holy Spirit, cemented 
this church in the bonds of Christian unity, raised 
the standard of Christian life, and aroused the 
conscience of his congregation to a higher sense of 
their responsibilities, privileges and opportunities. 
Many have been led to repentance and to accept 
the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour, publicly 
confessing Him in uniting with this church, and 
the community has been enriched by the example 
of as true a Christian character as it seems possible 
for mortal man to achieve — a life ' ' hid with Christ 
in God." 

He was ever on the alert for some opportunity 
for practical Christianity in doing. No man, 
woman, or child was too humble or too obscure to 
elicit his sympathy and help. 

A man of exquisite taste in literature, art and 
music, of highest culture, with talents to command 
success in any walk of life, he poured his whole 
soul into preaching Jesus Christ and Him crucified, 




37 



and esteemed his profession the highest open to 
mankind — a Priest of the Most High God. 

His last sermon was from the text, "Jesus 
Christ, the same yesterday, and to-day, and for- 
ever," and it is to Jesus alone we can turn in this, 
our hour of trial. 

Signed, 

Iv. F, Persons, 
B. J. Cows, 
A. J. H0013, 
A. E. Gray, 
K. C. Bi,ak:ei,Ey, 
A. B. Neiu,, 
Elders of the First Presbyterian Church. 



Ttoe Buffalo frsshgterg 



UR late beloved brother, the Rev. Samuel 
Colgate, whose brief, but most effective 
and happy ministry to the congregation 
of the church in East Aurora, was 
terminated by his death since the last meeting of 
the Presbytery, was exceptionally fitted by his 
many qualities to the work of winning men to the 
communion and service of the church. 

As a minister, his loyalty to Christ and his 
word, his thoroughness in study, his ability as a 
preacher, his helpfulness and sympathy as a pastor, 
endeared him to his people, and made him a trusted 
leader in every good in the community. 

As a presbyter, Mr. Colgate, by his conscien- 
tious attendance of the meetings of the body and 



38 



and school room, in shop and home. To fail to 
show men what the Christian minister ought to be 
and may be when thus personified would be to 
neglect an opportunity to turn thought to a man 
of God. 

"To furnish truth/' said Phillips Brooks, 
" to the believing heart, and to furnish believing 
hearts to truth, certainly there is no nobler office 
for a human heart than that. ' ' 

At Sea Gate he waited in patience and in pain 
for the gate of pearl to open, and when it had 
swung wide he whispered, " I am thinking of my 
people," and passed within. 

In his Yale lectures on Preaching, Phillips 
Brooks said : ' ' When the relation between 
preacher and congregation is worthily realized, 
who can say that it may not stretch beyond the 
line of death, and they who have been minister 
and people to each other here be something 
holy and peculiar to each other in the city of God 
forever. ' ' 

And as to-night our eyes follow this man of 
God to the mansion fair, we say to him in the 
words of Sir Edwin Arnold : 

" No moaning of the bar, set forth strong ship, 

Into that gloom which has God's face for a far light, 
Not a dirge, but a proud farewell from each fond lip, 
And praise, abounding praise, of fame's faint starlight. 

11 No moaning of the bar, but musical drifting 
Of time's waves turning to the eternal sea ; 
Death's soft wind all thy gallant canvas lifting, 
And Christ thy Pilot to the peace to be." 



33 



Trtimte hg Hetr. Gfairg* g. knights. 



" For Lycidas is dead, dead ere his prime, 
Young Lycidas, and hath not left his peer." 



if 



HUS sang Milton in pastoral mode at the 
untimely taking off of a youthful friend. 
It is not extravagant to apply these words 
to Samuel Colgate. There is something 
in a noble character that is absolutely unique — that 
has no peer. 

Five months ago he left us with sails set for 
Italian skies. Rest and change seemed to promise 
speedy restoration to health and vigor. But 
disease crept on, the ocean voyage was abandoned, 
the apparently stalwart form was forced to yield, 
and for long months he lay with gracious patience, 
hoping that strength might soon return that he 
might serve again in public way the L,ord he 
loved. 

In a message he sent a few days before the 
final summons came, he said: "As I lie in my 
room I can look out over New York harbor and 
see the ships sail out for almost every port of the 
world." A few mornings ago, while his brothers 
stood round him and repeated with him, ' ' The 
Iyord is my shepherd, I shall not want," the mys- 
terious messenger summoned, and out of the 
harbor sailed a bark bound for fairer than Italian 
skies, for that ' ' undiscovered country from whose 
bourne no traveler returns," for that land of 



34 



active participation in its work, by his pure life, 
by his brotherly affection, by his consecration and 
practical sympathy with evangelistic work, made 
himself a blessing to his brethren, and a powerful 
co-adjutor in their ministry. 

We deplore the early death of Mr. Colgate, 
but submit to the expressed will of the Head of 
the church in the assurance that when we 1 ' know 
as we are known," we shall see that all was for 
the best. 

The above minute was adopted by 
the Buffalo Presbytery, at Silver Creek, 
N. Y., Sept. 16, 1902. 

Attest, 

Wiujam Waith, 

Stated Clerk. 



39 



gxtracts from ^tfcers 



HERB are many, many lives which feel as 
if they could not spare him. He was 
ever so busy with things which brighten 
and uplift the lives of others that I 
cannot think of him as no longer among his 
friends, and his people, who loved him. Truly 
his works do follow him." 

"A most beautiful, unselfish life. So thought- 
ful of every one ; so happy in the pleasure of 
others ; so fair, and so uncomplaining. ' ' 

' ' I had come to love him for the beautiful 
qualities of mind and heart which won all who 
came in contact with him. He was born for 
friendship and love, and the world was the sweeter 
and better for his presence in it. His life was too 
brief for us all, but it was of the purest and most 
Christian type. A life of unselfish activity, of 
generous devotion to the beautiful and true. ' ' 

"As one who was permitted to be his teacher, 
I want to bear testimony to my sense of personal 




40 



active participation in its work, by his pure life, 
by his brotherly affection, by his consecration and 
practical sympathy with evangelistic work, made 
himself a blessing to his brethren, and a powerful 
co-adjutor in their ministry. 

We deplore the early death of Mr. Colgate, 
but submit to the expressed will of the Head of 
the church in the assurance that when we ' 1 know 
as we are known," we shall see that all was for 
the best. 

The above minute was adopted by 
the Buffalo Presbytery, at Silver Creek, 
N. Y., Sept. 16, 1902. 

Attest, 

Wiixiam Waith, 

Stated Clerk. 



39 



gxtracts from fetters 




HERE are many, many lives which feel as 
if they could not spare him. He was 
ever so busy with things which brighten 
and uplift the lives of others that I 
cannot think of him as no longer among his 
friends, and his people, who loved him. Truly 
his works do follow him." 



"A most beautiful, unselfish life. So thought- 
ful of every one ; so happy in the pleasure of 
others ; so fair, and so uncomplaining. ' ' 

' ' I had come to love him for the beautiful 
qualities of mind and heart which won all who 
came in contact with him. He was born for 
friendship and love, and the world was the sweeter 
and better for his presence in it. His life was too 
brief for us all, but it was of the purest and most 
Christian type. A life of unselfish activity, of 
generous devotion to the beautiful and true." 

"As one who was permitted to be his teacher, 
I want to bear testimony to my sense of personal 



40 



loss. He was one of the finest type of young men 
I have ever known. Faithful in his work ; refined, 
but never weak ; fond of athletic sports, but never 
rough ; cultivated, but sympathetic. A simple, 
manly, earnest Christian. His presence was a 
distinct and highly valued contribution to our 
Seminary life. I do not think he ever suspected 
how highly he was esteemed by teachers and fel- 
low students for his own sake. " 



" In my reading lately I have come across 
several strong statements as to high ideals in life, 
and sketches of a true Christian. His strong, 
cheery, earnest self always comes to my mind, and 
I feel that understanding of what Christ meant all 
men to be, is clearer for having known him." 



' ' This thought he was permitted to carry with 
him into the dark valley — that he had guided souls 
to Christ. One cannot but ask in view of his 
death, why was not a longer space of life allotted 
to one so well fitted for usefulness. We do not 
know, but we do know that the development of 
character does not depend on years, and that a 
ministry as short as Christ's may be a fruitful 
one." 



' ' I knew him so well and was so fond of him 
that I think of him now as peculiarly adapted to 



4i 



his new home, and keenly appreciative of all he 
finds there. The final and just reward of an ideal 
Christian character. ' ' 



" I was thinking of my people, my people in 
East Aurora," Mr. Colgate said, not many hours 
before his soul was called to heaven to hear from 
the Master's own lips the ''well done, good and 
faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy 
Iyord." It is true that Mr. Colgate was directly 
the pastor and leader of the Presbyterians of this 
village, yet I cannot but feel that to one having so 
large a heart as he, his thoughts went beyond his 
own congregation, and that in his great love for 
humanity, his unfailing devotion to and labor in 
the Master's work, in his loving charitable dispo- 
sition, "my people" meant to him many more 
than the mere membership of his congregation. 
His love was so great, his words of strengthening 
comfort so wisely yet so freely given, that many 
there are outside of the Presbyterian church who 
will in a sense remember him as their leader, if not 
in the strictest sense their pastor. The loss is 
East Aurora's, and the gain is also East Aurora's, 
in that the people have been helped and uplifted by 
the work that Mr. Colgate did among us." 

" We loved him, because he was gentle, loving 
and attractive. He drew men to him by his lov- 
ing ways, his unassuming generosity, his Christ- 
like spirit. He was a noble, good man, and we 
shall never forget him." 



42 



1 ' What a loss to the world is so Christ-like a 
man, and his work here is finished at just the age 
his loved Saviour said of his own work, ' It is fin- 
ished,' and went unto his Father. Where now 
will many look for the help and inspiration of a 
beautiful spirit ? I thank God that the memory of 
such a soul and life is always an encouragement. " 

' ' To him it was not so much as even the 
lifting of a latch. Only a step into the open air 
out of a tent already luminous with a light that 
shone through its transparent walls. ' ' 

1 1 Mr. Colgate was one whose life was so 
evidently pure and good that comment is not only 
superfluous, but even out of place. My opportun- 
ities to meet him were few, but the memory of 
them is precious." 

u No anxiety for the future happiness of the 
dear one gone before can ever disturb your 
thoughts, for truly he was one of the dearest of 
God's dear children. I had hoped that he would 
long enjoy the new church, but it is blessed to 
remember he is now one of the number of the 
redeemed who in Heaven shall do the will of him 
who loved us and gave himself for us. ' ' 

" His fine nature must have shown itself to 
you very clearly. I like to feel that the nature 
which some of us knew is the kind that God 
values, and has given and will give endless work 



43 



with himself. Gentleness, patience, faith and 
love seemed alone the qualities which in the life 
of Christ tell us so much of God, and these used 
to impress me in his character. ' ' 

' ' I feel the privilege of having known him. 
His devotion, whole souled, whole hearted. His 
absolute consecration to his Saviour — I was going 
to write profession, but it was not that. He made 
men feel that he did all his work for Christ's ser- 
vice. His whole life glowed with the joy that his 
Christian faith and hope were to him. ' ' 

' ' There is but one thought that comes to me. 
That it behooves us to live a life more like Mr. 
Colgate's, that we may find him and know him 
later." 



' 1 Indeed we cannot associate death with him. 
He was so full of life — of the higher life — that we 
must think of him as now in the full enjoyment of 
its blessed experiences. He had a way of getting 
at the hearts of men, and quickening them there. 
It is little wonder, therefore, that the circle of grief 
is a wide one. By taking such as he God makes 
the following life seem very attractive and very 
real." 



"In so many ways and in so many places we 
shall look for him in vain. Our Chautauqua 



44 



retreats and our Monday afternoon conferences 
early last winter were successful and helpful 
through so much of the interest and spirit he 
infused into them. Such work is only a part of 
all he was called to, and most faithfully, and 
loyally, and lovingly was it performed." 

' 1 We all know something of what he was, and 
we grew to love him so much. There was no man 
of our company there in Buffalo who was loved as 
Mr. Colgate was, so we shall miss him." 



45 



£,n gtfizt Ward 



This Memorial Volume was issued by the First 
Presbyterian Church of East Aurora, N. Y., in 
loving remembrance of their pastor. 



The biographical sketch was prepared by Rev. 
Richard C. Morse, an uncle of Mr. Colgate. 



The article, "Work in East Aurora," was 
written by Rev. George D. Knights, pastor of the 
First Baptist Church, East Aurora, N. Y. 



Rev. Edwin H. Dickinson, D. D., is pastor of 
the North Presbyterian Church of Buffalo, N. Y. 

The "Extracts" are from letters written to 
Mrs. Edith Hall Colgate at the time of Mr. Col- 
gate's death. 



March, 1903. 



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